Yellowstone National Park transferred 20 bison to a Montana Indian tribe for slaughter on Wednesday (Feb 13, 2014, marking the first such action this winter under a plan to drastically reduce the size of the largest genetically pure bison population in the U.S.
Administrators plan to slaughter up to 600 bison this winter if harsh weather conditions inside the park spur a large migration of the animals to lower elevations in Montana. It's part of a multiyear plan to reduce the population from 4,600 animals to about 3,000, under an agreement between federal and state officials signed in 2000.
Tens of millions of bison once roamed the Plains before overhunting drove them to near extinction by the early 1900s. Yellowstone is one of the few places where they survive in the wild.
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